So, I like the idea of bitcoin and I am thinking of investing in some bitcoin currency but I have some questions about long term success and viability. I have read thru some of the previous posts to try and answer these questions but could not find a good answer.

Being that there is a finite volume of bitcoins 21Mil, what would happen if a state/private/corporate entity wanted to undermine the currency by buying 40% or more of the currency? What impact would this have on the rest of the bitcoin economy?

I see the possibility of having different crypto E-currencies as a way to stifle the ability for this to happen, but this would involve some type of a currency exchange.

It just seems like there are some potential pitfalls.

but as far as getting retailers to accept bitcoin we really would need to hit some type of processor so that if you have bitcoin and retailer only takes US dollars, sed processor could convert your bitcoins to US, Euro, Ruble, or anything else. Just like I can buy things from sites that take Euros and pay with my US credit card.

It would be nearly impossible for anyone, even a large government, to buy 5M bitcoins. There are probably < 100k btc for sale on all of the exchanges combined, and the price would rise extremely quickly if someone attempted to buy a quantity that large.

It would only increase the BTC price. The cost of items would be reduced, and there would be no long-term effect.

Except, of course, to make all existing owners of bitcoins wealthier.

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I really hope that everyone tries it. Billions of people ditching their paper currency in order to buy bitcoins will have the same immediate effect.

The difference though is that if this was somehow done by one entity (a central bank?) that this entity would then be in a position to seriously screw with the exchange rates. They'd lose a ton of money yes, but might gain something by hurting bitcoin.